While many Indians on SM seem pretty upset at Notredame cathedral catching fire, we remain oblivious to the gross neglect of many vibrant, functioning centers of heritage in our own country

One such example is this massive, dilapidated temple of PundarIkAksha at Thiruvellarai

Thiruvellarai is a small hamlet some 20 kms from Trichy and Srirangam, boasting a temple that as per some legends is even older than the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple - the bhooloka Vaikunta that is a short drive away

The Thiruvellarai temple dates back to Pallava era as attested by the inscriptions from 8th century in its two rock cut caves

It also remains a functioning pilgrimage center, visited by a few hundreds everyday, notwithstanding its desolate location in the middle of nowhere

The deity of Pundarikaksha (lotus-eyed mahA viShNu) is one of the largest vigrahas I have seen in any temple in Tamil Nadu.

It remains my favorite temple and deity

The temple is very highly regarded in Sri-Vaishnava lore. One of the pre-eminent Divya Deshams (the 108 shrines memorialized in Azhwar hymns). And a temple of considerable antiquity, having been visited by personages as illustrious as Shri Ramanuja himself

Yet the temple remains practically unknown outside of the Vaishnava community in Tamil Nadu.

Few Kannadigas, or Telugu people or North Indians would have heard of Tiruvellarai, notwithstanding its 1200 year+ history

The Gopuram is a sorry sight. One would have thought the place at least deserves a decent Raja Gopuram, given its very high stature in the Sri-Vaishnava community

Yet the dilapidated look remains.

No temple epitomizes Indian indifference to heritage better than Thiruvellarai.

In my view the most under-visited and underrated temple in the country

By the way, one of the reasons I chose to tweet on Thiruvellarai is because it is NOT a defunct ruin

Despite its sorry state, it remains a functioning temple. You have priests in there, and you have pilgrims who traverse long distances to visit it

So that makes it very very different from say abandoned temples like say Kailash temple of Ellora or the Shore temple of Mahabalipuram

Thiruvellarai isn't in that category. It is a living shrine!

Postscript : Here's a one hour upanyasam by the inimitable Velukkudi Krishnan on Thiruvellarai

Large parts of the Deccan and Bengal have started aging, and will continue to age

Also the Deccan faces a huge brain-drain with its erstwhile elite looking up to the US as the future home for its progeny

So demographically, culturally and also economically what we will likely see over the next 100 years is the retreat of Deccan after an ascendancy that began with the Chalukyas and Pallavas in the 6th-7th century

VS Naipaul got it right in his 1990 work when he talked about India experiencing a million mutinies as it is awakening from many centuries of slumber

Hindu insecurity represents one of the many mutinies and rages. And a legitimate one at that

There are other mutinies of course...

You have Dalit insecurity, the rage of many influential OBC castes, Muslim rage, Dravidian chauvinism and of course more militant mutinies in the fringes (e.g. Kashmir, and to a lesser extent the North East)

Related threads

#NotreDame is "just" a building, of course -- but it's one that represents the work and lives of thousands of people. It survived the French Revolution and two World Wars. It has inspired generations of artists. Being inside it is awe-inspiring in the truest sense.

It took 100 years to build #NotreDame -- and it has been under continuous improvement/renovation ever since. The history of the organ alone is incredible. Some of the finest instrument designers humanity has ever produced have had a hand in building it over centuries.

#NotreDame's rose windows date back eight centuries -- some still containing the original stained glass. The south window -- the one you see in pictures from the plaza between the two towers -- has been repeatedly damaged and restored over the years.

Today the world has probably lost 3 of the most beautiful stained glass windows ever made:
- The west Rose window (1225).
- The North rose window (1250).
- The South rose window (1250).#NotreDame

The #NotreDame cathedral was built not only as a church: the structure was covered with sculptures illustrating biblical stories: the aim was teaching people a moral lesson from the entrance to the inside.

Generally civilians were not able to to understand a latin mass: that's why all those figures came to the rescue. From saints to the Last Judement, #NotreDame was the most bright example of gothic naturalism.

🔥💔#NotreDame cathedral in the heart of #Paris on the Île de la Cité appears fully engulfed in flames. Fire broke out 7am, police say, perhaps from renovation work. Height of French Catholicism & gothic architecture, around for 856 yrs. Home of fabled Hunchback. Ahead of Easter.

Historic #NotreDame spire has collapsed and the cathedral’s back roof is engulfed in flames. Earlier report said fire began at 7am, tho likely 7pm. It’s 8:30pm in Paris. Reporters say it appears out of control, violent and moving quickly toward the iconic gothic facade. Tragic.💔

🔥Paris deputy mayor says #NotreDame suffered “colossal damages” in fire that began in spire. First responders now trying to salvage art and other priceless pieces in storage. Cathedral spox said entire wooden interior is burning & likely to be destroyed💔apnews.com/a0fbb1d19f7a44…

2. #NotreDame: The beautiful #Spire of the Cathedral, originally in place 13th-18th century, recreated in the 19th century, has now been completely destroyed by the flames (see middle of the picture).#PARIS

3. #NotreDame:
- In 1163 the Cornerstone was laid for Notre-Dame de Paris and construction started.
- In 1250 Western towers and north #RoseWindow completed.
- In the 14th century most of the Cathedral was completed.

"'The entire roof has collapsed and there is still intense amounts of smoke, from across the river it's choking": @FRANCE24 journalist @charli on scene Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos

#NotreDame spokesman Andre Finot tells French media the entire wooden interior is burning and likely to be destroyed: "Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame" bloomberg.com/news/articles/…